1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to nanoparticles and nanostructured films in general, and in particular to a method for producing composite, shelled, alloy and compound nanoparticles and nanostructured films. Still more specifically, the present invention relates to a method for producing composite, shelled, alloy and compound nanoparticles and nanostructured films by using laser ablation of microparticles.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, many applications can benefit from compositional variations on a nanoscale such applications include, for example, nanostructured giant magnetostrictive films, optical amplifier photonic materials, non-linear photonic materials, thermoelectric materials, magnetic materials, corrosion resistant alloys, etc. Three-dimensional nanostructured materials are typically required for all the above-mentioned applications.
Three-dimensional nanostructured materials can be produced by methods such as vacuum synthesis, gas-phase synthesis, condensed phase synthesis, high-speed deposition using ionized cluster beams, consolidation, high-speed milling, etc. But those methods commonly suffer from a variety of problems such as agglomeration, broad size distribution, low volume production, impurity, surfactant requirement, environmental unfriendness, etc. Basically, nanostructured materials are difficult to produce in size scales that are practical for many applications using existing manufacturing technologies.
It has been known that supersonic jet deposition of nanoparticle aerosols generated by a laser ablation of microparticles (LAM) can be used to directly write films, micron-scale lines, and other structures onto substrates. The present disclosure provides a method that extends the LAM process for producing composite, shelled, alloy and compound nanoparticles as well as nanostructured films of composite, shelled, alloy and compound nanoparticles.